


No More

by Bluewolf458



Category: The Sentinel (TV)
Genre: Gen, Sentinel Thursday
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-21
Updated: 2020-03-21
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:14:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23243851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bluewolf458/pseuds/Bluewolf458
Summary: There is a serial killer in Cascade
Relationships: Jim Ellison & Blair Sandburg
Comments: 6
Kudos: 12





	No More

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Sentinel Thursday prompt 'grey area'

No More

by Bluewolf

The first four deaths went to Homicide. With the fifth, the wife of a prominent Cascade businessman, everything was transferred to Major Crime. This was now officially a serial killer.

Simon called his three top teams in to give them the details - or, rather, to let Detective Franklin of Homicide give them the details.

"We weren't sure at first that this was a serial killer," he admitted. "Usually with a serial killer the MO is the same - a gun, a knife, strangling... but these deaths have been perpetrated by different methods. Four of the five victims lived in much the same part of Cascade; the fifth lived nearly a mile away. The one consistent thing is that the murders have all been on a Sunday.

"The first victim was a woman, the second a man. Next, a pregnant woman, then another man. This latest one, another woman; so we half expect the next one to be a man."

"It does seem to be a pattern," Joel said. "How were they each killed?"

"The first one was stabbed. The next was shot at close range. The third was... you could say beaten to death. She was punched and kicked, hit with a variety of objects - one was a stone the killer had presumably just picked up - it was too big for him to have had it in his pocket. We know it had been used because the victim's blood was on it. The second man was also shot, but from a distance. And the most recent one was strangled."

"The third one... " Blair's voice was slightly hesitant. "It sounds more... violent than the others. Almost as if she was the actual target, and the others have only been - well, to make it look as if she was just a random victim, one of several the killer picked on."

"That's a good point," Brown said, and Franklin nodded.

"It does make one wonder why that one victim was singled out for a more vicious attack," he said. "With serial killers, the motive is usually a sort of grey area; there's no obvious reason why they've selected those particular victims, and the amount of violence used tends to be about the same. Here, we have one vicious attack, one from a distance, and three at close quarters but the victims just being killed, with the killer not apparently wanting to hurt them too much. So yes, that's definitely a good point." He looked around the group. "If Homicide can be of any assistance, just let us know. But you guys have the reputation of being the best, so I wouldn't expect you to need our help. And no, we don't resent the top dogs passing the case to you. If anything, we're grateful." And he grinned at them, before nodding politely to Simon and walking out.

***

Once the door was safely shut behind Franklin, Jim gave a wry smile. "Grateful," he said. "I'm sure they are. They haven't been getting anywhere, so they're happy to pass the buck to us... expecting to snigger their heads off when we admit we're stumped."

"So we make sure we're not stumped," Simon said, his eyes firmly fixed on Jim.

"Nobody can solve every case they're given," Joel said.

"But Jim's got better than a 90% solve rate," Brown said.

"There's still the odd case he can't solve," Joel said.

"Okay, Jim - what do you want to do about this one?" Simon asked.

Jim made a face. "First, have a word with the families of the deceased. See if any of them mentioned thinking they were being watched... Give me their addresses, Simon, and I'll get started on that."

***

Jim decided that he and Blair should see the families in the order of the killings.

At the first house, the door was answered by young woman who was probably not more than twenty, if that. She let them in and took them into a living room where there were fifteen other youngsters, the youngest probably three.

The one who had answered the door was the oldest of the siblings, who had taken over the rearing of her younger brothers and sisters when their mother was killed. Their father was at work - they rarely saw him, because he worked two jobs to provide for the family.

None of them - at least the older ones - thought that their mother had been watched in the days preceding her death.

At the second house, they were met by a pregnant, still-tearful woman, who had clearly not yet recovered from her husband's death. There were two pre-school-age children in the house; her other eight children, she said, were at school. The two oldest of them, a boy of seventeen and a girl of sixteen, had taken evening jobs to try to help the family financially, but Mrs. Hawthorn didn't know just how they would manage in the long term.

Again, she didn't think that her husband had been being watched.

At the third house they were met by a man whose grief was clearly being kept in control by sheer will-power. "It's not only my wife I've lost," he said. "In a way I've lost seven of my children too - my wife's sister and my own two sisters took the youngest ones, though the three oldest stayed with me. Eight children really, because Marie was three months pregnant. Oh, the younger ones will probably come home when they're sixteen - it's good for them to have a lot of siblings to depend on, though I've never been able to persuade Donny - the oldest one - of that. He told me once how much he envied one of his classmates who was an only child, and I couldn't persuade him that the boy was probably very lonely, and envied him his brothers and sisters."

He added that his wife had never said anything about feeling she was watched.

As they settled into the truck, Blair said, "That's something they all have in common - at least so far. Big families."

"Yes," Jim agreed. "Sixteen, and two families with ten and another on the way. I wonder if 'big' will be true of the other two families?"

It was. One was a family with fourteen children, and the other a family of 'just' eight - seven boys and one girl. But having got their much-desired daughter, the father said they hadn't planned on having more children, unless they could guarantee another daughter.

On their way back to the PD, Blair said thoughtfully, "All of those families had a son of about seventeen... "

"What's in your mind, Chief?"

"Do you suppose they know each other?"

"It's possible - but why should that matter?"

"The third family. Mr. Arnold said that his oldest son... Donny, wasn't it, seemed to resent having siblings. Envied the friend who was an only child. Suppose the oldest boys in all five families felt much the same - and maybe split the cost of hiring someone to kill one of their parents so that they wouldn't have any more siblings?"

"That's... quite a reach, Chief."

"It was something about the way Mr. Arnold described Donny's reaction. Jim - I'd like the chance to question Donny."

They had the names. When they got Rhonda to phone around some of the Cascade schools, they discovered that Blair had been right - a boy from each family was in the same class at Cascade High.

Rhonda contacted each family, and arranged for a police car to pick up the five boys and take them to the station - also for the five surviving parents to go there.

The boys were put into an interrogation room; the parents into the observation room beside it. Simon joined them.

"If any of you are unhappy about what you see or hear, tell me," he said. "The thing is, we suspect at least one of your sons of knowing something about the deaths of your partners. One of our detectives has a degree in psychology, and by questioning them, we hope that he will either establish that or be able to dismiss them all as suspects. I can assure you that he won't try to intimidate them, but if you feel that he is, just tell me."

He turned to look through the one-way glass into the interrogation room.

Blair had taken a seat facing the boys; Jim was standing behind him, and Joel stood at the door.

"Hello, boys," Blair said. "This is just a routine question session - something we do a lot of the time when someone has been murdered. Thing is, sometimes members of the family have seen things without realizing it. And apart from your parents - and I believe one of you who has an older sister - you're the oldest in your families."

There was a soft murmur of agreement.

"This is going to sound like a strange question - how do you all feel about having so many younger brothers and sisters?" There was a note in his voice that Simon recognized - he had heard Blair use it so many times when he wanted Jim to do something - and Jim had usually done it. Jim knew that, too - he had once described it to Simon as Blair's 'guide voice'.

"I don't like it," one of them said. "One brother or sister would be okay, maybe two, but thirteen? And as the oldest, I have to look after a lot of them. I never seem to have any time for myself, any time to mix with my friends."

There was a murmur of clear agreement from the other four.

"I have nine, but Mom was expecting another baby," one of them said, and the listening parents had no problem hearing the resentment in the boy's voice. "I hated that kid - even though he was six months from being born! But Dad always said that having a lot of brothers and sisters meant we'd always have someone to depend on. But he expected me to be the one the others depended on! He couldn't understand why I'd rather have been an only child."

"Was that why you killed your Mom?" Blair asked. "So that that baby would never be born, and there wouldn't ever be more brothers or sisters?"

"Yes! And I knew - " He broke off, obviously realizing that he had betrayed himself.

One of the others said, "We've often spoken among ourselves how much we didn't like having a lot of brothers and sisters. Even Norris - another guy in our class - hated having four younger sibs, even though they were all in their teens. His parents blamed him any time his younger brothers got into mischief. But I didn't think any of us hated our parents for having so many kids; I thought we just hated having so many brothers and sisters, and were looking forward to the day we'd finish school and be able to leave home and get away from them." He looked at the one who'd just admitted the killings. "Donny - did you think you were somehow saving us all by killing one of our parents?"

"Saving you from having more brothers and sisters," Donny Arnold said.

Jim stepped forward. "Donald Arnold, you are under arrest for killing Avis Dorward, John Hawthorn, Marie Arnold, Dwayne Quinn and Joanne Burke - "

As Jim carried on reciting the Miranda, Simon looked at the parents. "Mr. Arnold, you should stay; the others can go."

Arnold looked at them. "I'm sorry," he murmured.

"Not your fault," Mrs. Hawthorn said. "You're worse hit than the rest of us."

The others murmured agreement as they walked out.

***

Even as young as seventeen, Donny was declared of unsound mind and sent to a juvenile institution. His father decided to leave his younger children with their aunts for as long as they were willing to keep them.

Why had Donny so resented having siblings? He himself had been one of four, and had really wanted more brothers or sisters; he couldn't understand how anyone would not want siblings.

But he decided not to risk having another of his children resent being one of ten.


End file.
